Public Support for Free Learning: A Policy Framework

Stephen DownesOctober 25, 2011

Open Learning

• Long associated with distance learning– correspondence schools – 1880sff– 1915, creation of the National University

Extension Association(NUEA)– U.S. radio broadcasting licenses to 202 colleges,

universities, and school boards – 1920s, 30s– 1926, historian J C Stobart wrote a memo

advocating a 'wireless university’ while at BBC

Bizhan Nasseh, A brief History of Distance Education, http://www.downes.ca/files/nasseh_history.html History of the OU, http://www8.open.ac.uk/about/main/the-ou-explained/history-the-ou

Open Institutions

• Open University opens in 1971– did not insist on prior educational qualifications– required students to take two foundation courses

• New York State’s Empire State College– commenced operation in 1971

• Athabasca University (1970/72), Indira Gandhi National Open University (1985)

Empire State College, College History http://alumni.esc.edu/inauguration/collegehistory.phpIGNOU http://www.ignou.ac.in/ignou/aboutignou/profile/2

Open Learning (2)

• Over time – enhanced accessibility– distance learning– reduction of financial barriers• tuition reductions• subsidies

– progressive pedagogies• Creation of distance learning pedagogies – Moore,

Merrill, Gagne

Open Resources

• Project Gutenberg• Open Archives Initiative– BOAI– DSpace

• Wikipedia– Curricki– Wikiversity– WikiEducator – Commonwealth of Learning

The OERu Logic Model

Taylor, J.C. 2007. Open courseware futures: Creating a parallel universe. e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology (e-JIST), Vol 10, No. 1. Online: http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/e-jist/docs/vol10_no1/papers/full_papers/taylorj.htm

Criticism of the Logic Model

• Traditional Curricular based approach– a focus on articulation & credit transfer– closed federation of traditional institutes

• Tight link to traditional credentials• The Black Box problem – ‘open’ this or that

(eg. ‘open business model’) unstudied and undeveloped

Contrasts in Design

• Learning objectives– concrete and stated Learning Objectives vs.

unstated and multiple objectives • Organization of subject matter– knowledge of vs knowledge about– linear organization vs knowledge community

Contrast in Assessment

• Subject and content-focused assessment, vs. performance-based and networked-based

• Assessment against external criteria vs. self-assessment

• Assessment by-instructor vs. 3rd-party assessment

Free Learning

• Based on the principles of connectivist, or network, learning

• Network design principles: distributed, disintermediated, dynamic

• Design based on the ‘semantic principle’:– autonomy– diversity– openness– interactivity

Connectivist Learning Design

• A non-curricular based approach– course content is the ‘McGuffin’ vs (Freire) the

‘banking system’– learning takes places through interaction and

creativity• Seymour Papert – constructionism• Aggregate, remix, repurpose, feed forward

• Learning a matter of growth, not accumulation

But… why

• It’s a formal recognition that people have different destinations, different tastes

• Based on an understanding that knowledge varies according to these

• Expresses the principle that networks – communities – are stronger with multiple diverse perspectives

• Knowledge learned is better – indeed, known

A Map of the Community

Connectivism: A Theory of Personal LearningStephen Downes, December 3, 2008, Educational Development Centre, Ottawahttp://www.downes.ca/presentation/208

The MOOC Model

• MOOC: Massive Open Online Course• There is no central core feature – no core

content, group, etc• Course design is a network, or a map, or a

community• Resources are distributed, and aggregated• Participants are encouraged to create their

own resources, communities, groups

2010: Stephen Downes, Rita KopCritical Literacies & PLENK 2010

PLENK 2010 involved a significant research efforthttp://connect.downes.ca/

PLENK Analytics

Supporting ongoing MOOC participationhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/882

Rita Kop

Critical Literacies

Understanding how we use artifacts to communicate in online and other learning networks http://www.downes.ca/presentation/232

2011: Year of the MOOC

Connectivism & Connective Knowledge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc

CCK11: How to Learn in a MOOC

How to be Successful in a MOOC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8avYQ5ZqM0

Dave Cormier

Learning Analytics

http://scope.bccampus.ca/course/view.php?id=365

LAK11: How to measure success in a MOOC

MobiMOOC

http://mobimooc.wikispaces.com/

Supporting Mobile Learning Technology

Inge de Waard

The madness and mayhem of DS106

DS = Digital StorytellingDS106 redefined activities and participation

Jim Groom

http://ds106.us/

eduMOOC

Large, well publicized, but not very interactive

http://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/

eduMOOC underground

Jeff Lebow, Google+ hangout, and Livestream:Taking something ordinary, and making it something special – YOU make the MOOChttp://www.livestream.com/jefflebow/

Jeff Lebow

AI-Class: Redefining Massive

More than 100,000 people signed up for pre-registration

http://www.ai-class.com/

Change 2011

http://change.mooc.ca

Downes, Cormier and Siemens try again

Image: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/04/running-mooc.html

New Roles for Government

• Communications and Education Infrastructure• Support for Open Educational Resources• Support for Free Learning• Management of assessments and

credentialing

The Digital Infrastructure

• Public high-speed backbone networks– used not only for education but for other public

services: police, fire and emergency, hospital, municipalities, etc.

• Local Access– eg. CAP Centres

• Legal Framework– policy on digital rights and copyright– net neutrality and similar regulations

A Note on Sustainability

Whatever we really want is sustainable

Like, say, highways

Sustaining Infrastructure

• Support for existing programs and services– cost reductions in communications overhead– improved efficiency of public service delivery

• Overhead on entertainment and commercial infrastructure– similar to broadcast ‘CanCon’ requirements

Open Educational Resources

• Traditional Resources– Already developed and paid for by government– Open access initiatives

• Public Policy Resources– design to serve a public end or objective– focus on basic literacies & community

empowerment

Sustaining OERs

• Redirection of existing resource allocations– eg. OA mandates for grants and programs– community outreach for existing agencies• eg, NASA

• Support for community-based OER process– integration of OER development and use within

publicly supported curricula– use of OERs in public services and programs

- Stephen Downes, Models for sustainable Open Educational Rsources, ijklo.org/Volume3/IJKLOv3p029-044Downes.pdf http://www.downes.ca/presentation/76- OER Help with Keynote Slides, OER-Forum http://lists.esn.org.za/pipermail/oer-forum/2011-October/thread.html

Software and Service Support

• Software and environment support– eg. Public Knowledge Project, – Open Journal Systems, Moodle, et

• Service networks and support– JISC / CETIS, EdNA, etc.– Common Services - eFramework

Sustaining Support Systems

• Development and systems research support• Public adoption of open licensing– FLOSS• GNU/GPL, BSD, etc• Creative Commons

– directs resources toward multi-sector development

• Community service requirement for commercially sourced software

Assessment and Credentialing

• Major policy initiatives– separation of delivery and assessment• an end to Digital Diploma Mills

– management of credentialing by professional associations under a regulatory framework

– development of community-based assessment metrics and infrastructure• move away from simple testing, toward authentic

community engagement and referrals

Assessment and Credentialing (2)

• Support for Personal Learning– provision of personal learning environments and

frameworks• promote lifelong learning• link to skills database, corporate training registries• direct support for employment and funding

– personal portfolios and credential banks• voluntary, self-managed• optional identity frameworks

The Old School 2.0

School 2.0 etoolkit http://etoolkit.org/etoolkit/

New Models for Schools

New Roles for Research

Community = Interactions

• Not ‘spreading the word’• Not ‘amplification’• But rather, the creation of our own society,

together– emergent from the free actions of each of us– not based on the ideas of one (or a small number)

of individuals

Open Communities are Free

Dave Pollard, the Metamovement http://howtosavetheworld.ca/2011/10/20/the-metamovement-moving-beyond-marches-and-people-in-the-street/

Stephen Downeshttp://www.downes.ca